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Unpopular opinion: glued down carpet is better than stretched for most homes

I did a job last Tuesday in a new build in Austin, whole upstairs had to be stretched carpet. But the subfloor was so uneven that no matter how much I stretched, the wrinkles showed up after a day. My boss says stretched is always the way to go for residential, says it lasts longer and feels better underfoot. But I've been doing this for about 8 years now, and I'm starting to think glued down is more forgiving on bad subfloors and doesn't wrinkle as much. I get that it's harder to rip out later, but how many people actually change carpet every 5 years anyway? What's your take, do you prefer glued or stretched for tricky rooms?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancy_king295d ago

Oh MAN, this takes me back. My brother tried to save money and did his own basement carpet job with the glued down stuff. He used way too much glue and it oozed up through the seams for WEEKS. Looked like a crime scene of dried boogers everywhere.

jessem595d ago

Did he at least use the right trowel size or was he just slapping it on with a putty knife? @shanec61 makes a good point about stretched carpet getting those ripples but your brother's situation proves there's a fine line between enough glue and way too much. I've seen guys try to save a few bucks on the adhesive only to end up with a mess like that, and it's always twice the work to clean up.

shanec615d ago

Nancy mentions the glue oozing out which is a fair point but honestly I've seen stretched carpet get those waves and ripples way worse than a little glue seam issue. Glued down stays flat no matter what the subfloor is doing over time, plus it doesn't have that weird bounce feeling when you walk on it. I think stretched carpet just gives you a false sense of security if the install isn't perfect, and most house subfloors are trash these days anyway.